How to Be a Freezer Storage Hero on the Cheap

One of my favorite newspaper comics was one that my mother-in-law had on her fridge for years. It was one of those old-timey range comics that showed harassed ranch wife with hair flying out from under a big old cowboy hat. She was, of course, sitting on a tuckered out broken down old horse. In the comic she following along behind a pair (cow and calf), and was reminiscing about the fact that her husband expected her to be able to find that pair in the pasture - but he couldn’t find the mayonnaise in the fridge. I think it was so funny because it was true. I don’t know what it is about fridges, but they are amazingly large black pits of nothingness. The less you keep in there the better as you have a better chance of not loosing it.

In my experience it is the same way with freezers. I will swear I put 5 packages of steaks in there, but the gluttonous freezer spirits eat them and spit back at me bags of whole jalepenos I stuck in there 5 years ago because I didn’t want to do anything with them at the time. I still don’t.

I need a freezer hero to come battle the freezer gods on my behalf. He can have at least 2 of the packages of steaks for his trouble. No takers? Ahhh well, here’s a few tips I have started using to keep the titan wars at bay in my chest freezer.

Freezer Storage Tips

Clean out Your Freezer and Start Fresh

Throw away anything that is unknown, older than you want to eat ( I am not going to tell you a time limit because I will still eat stuff older than most people think is logical).  But if you do this, you can start with only what you want to keep. It helps cut down on the clutter from the beginning.

Label Stuff

Try to label stuff with what it is and when it’s going in the freezer (date). Yeah, I know I don’t really do it either – but it does give you a sense of urgency when you look at that bag and see it’s 6mo old…. or 6 years old.

Store According to Like Kinds

Store veggies with veggies or meat with meat, frozen dinners with frozen dinners etc.   You can even get specific and store specific veggies with specific veggies. You get the idea. However you like to do it is good. It is just much easier to try to find green beans when they aren’t randomly stored with the steaks. Although, they do go well together.

Store Heavy and/or Bulky Items at the Bottom

Storing heavy items on the bottom keeps you from moving them around all the time.  You move the easier to store, smaller items instead.  For example, if you prefer to not move the lion hide/head every time you want to get a pound of hamburger - put the hide on the bottom. Don’t have that problem? Good. Keep it that way.

Think about the bottom layer of your freezer being meat. Neatly stored in boxes according to type. It has it’s potential for success :)

Consider Using Boxes to Keep Items Together and Contained

I like the kind you can get from the grocery store or liquor store out back.  These are usually pretty good boxes.  Then put all of your steaks on one box, hamburger in another, veggies in another etc.  However you want to organize it.   You can then stack these boxes in your chest freezer – it eliminates the “digging” now you’re just “unstacking.” Remember, stack heavier boxes on the bottom so you’re just moving veggies around and not 20# of hamburger every time you want to get to the bottom layer.

In my fridge freezer I use plastic tubs to contain things like bags of frozen veggies etc.  It really helps the stress level when you open the freezer and things don’t shoot out at you! 

Freeze in Freezer Bags Laying Flat

This way, when stuff is frozen – you can stack it vertically (in a box or tub so they don’t fall over) and you can get an amazing amount of stuff stored this way.  The least amount of wasted space.  Plus, and maybe the best part of this trick is that you can see what you have vs. wondering what is at the bottom of that stack.  Amazing!! When you know what you have - you use it vs. forgetting it.

Store Stuff in the Same Places Consistently

Storing something in the same place every time eliminates searching for it.  This way, if you see that a specific box or area of the freezer is empty it means you’re probably out of that item. This is freezer hero black belt level stuff here- so work towards this step over time.

Use it

Don’t just freeze it to freeze it.  Use it, and then all of that work will be worth while.  When you’re meal planning take a look in your freezer to see what you have on hand. Again - very advanced freezer hero stuff here, so don’t get discouraged my little tenderfoot- you got this (as I say this to myself again and again).